Business

Glimmer of hope for Dubai?
by Barbora Misakova

When Dubai announced in November it needs to freeze payments on the debt of its largest state-corporate – Dubai World, it shook properly with world global markets. In Thursday statement better news were announced. Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum informed about discovery of a new offshore oil field. For Dubai, which debt is estimated at 100 (according to some reports even 170) billion dollars and which oil reserves are expected to be exhausted very soon (within 20 years), it was one of the best news Dubai could get. Dubai discovered oil quantities in 1966 and three years later it started trading with it. Oil production of Dubai city-state got the highest point in! 1991 when it reached 410,000 barrels per day. It had been steadily declining and in 2000 it dropped to 170,000 barrels per day. Even though present official figures are not available, it can be easily reckoned that oil production is constantly decreasing. It is known that new filed lies east of the small Rashid field, but the statement said nothing about its size. That is why emirate’s oil department got instruction from Sheikh to “begin exploration work and conduct needed research to specify the size of the reserve, and its production capacity in the short and long term.” As Sheikh Mohammed said, discovery of new field brings hope for Dubai. The United Arab Emirates dispose of the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves what represents about 97.8 billion barrels of crude oil. But 95 percent of these reserves are controlled by the leading partner in the federation – Abu Dhabi. This new field could “give a strong boost to all sectors of! the local economy and provide a new source of revenue that co! uld stre ngthen the drive for comprehensive development in Dubai.”

related story (sgx16356): http://www.france24.com/en/20100204-debt-dubai-offshore-oil-...

by Barbora Misakova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

posted by Blog TechSource @ 8:32 AM